Scattered Remains
by RequiemofDarkness
Summary: Naruto's mind is broken after suffering through intense torture at the hand of a villager. What kind of shinobi will rise from the remains of Naruto Uzumaki and how will he fare suffering from the constant nightmares and the fear of being betrayed, after all who would ever care about a demon. FemKyuubiNaruHina. Rewritten as Scattered Remains Rewrite (Check my profile)
1. Chapter 1: Shattered

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, blah, blah, blah, go support the official release.** (I am only doing one disclaimer for the whole fic cause I'm never going to remember to do this stuff.)

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 **Scattered Remains**

 **Chapter 1: Shattered**

 **(This chapter contains somewhat graphic depictions of torture. You have been warned)**

Naruto sighed as he stared at the shattered remains of the door on his apartment. He'd have to buy a new one and with the small amount of money given to him by the Hokage he probably wouldn't be able to eat for a couple of days in order to have enough money. 'Well nothing I can do about it' he thought as he began walking through the village towards the nearest hardware store one of the few places that Naruto was allowed in and not charged outrageous amounts.

When he walked in he saw Denbe the man who ran the store smile broadly at him and waving. Naruto smiled back and walked up to the nice man. "I need a new door for my apartment" He said still smiling at Denbe.

Denbe nodded "Do you know the dimensions of the door frame?" Naruto told him and Denbe walked off to retrieve the door for the boy. When he came back he laid it on the counter and rang up Naruto who was about to leave with the door in tow when Denbe stopped him.

"How about I help you install the door Naruto-kun?" Denbe offered smiling. Naruto nodded excitedly "That would be great thanks" Denbe smiled and went into the back to get his tools before leading Naruto out the back exit of the store. As they walked they talked merrily until Denbe suggested that they take a shortcut through an alley.

When they were deep into the alley and away from prying eyes Denbe struck. He hit Naruto over the head with a hammer causing Naruto to slam into the wall and drop the door. Denbe picked the surprised Naruto up by his right arm and picked up a large spike and slammed it into Naruto's hand piercing through, Denbe than hit the spike with a hammer pinning Naruto to the wall.

 **(Torture is ahead read at your own risk)**

Naruto wailed in pain "Why are you doing this, what did I do?" Denbe chuckled darkly "You killed my wife you damned monster don't you dare deny it I saw her get crushed under your paws with my own two eyes." Denbe picked up Naruto's left hand and repeated the process. "I didn't do anything I don't even have paws please let me go!" Naruto begged.

"Now we're going to have some fun" Denbe snarled picking up a carving knife and stabbing it into Naruto's stomach causing him to scream in pain or at least he was until Denbe stabbed him in the throat impaling his vocal chords. Denbe continued on carving Naruto until his entire chest was a mangled mess of hanging skin and blood.

Then Denbe moved on to Naruto's feet he picked them up and ripped off the boy's shoes and began ripping off his toe nails one by one. After he finished with all ten he started breaking them and once he was done with that he began to cut them off. Naruto tried to scream but all that came out was the sound of gurgling blood.

When Denbe finished with Naruto's feet he picked up a stack of tag's which Naruto thought were explosive tags. He placed one on Naruto's face and another on Naruto's stomach directly on top of his belly button. Denbe then picked up a lighter and burned the tags. Naruto expecting them to blow up was surprised when instead they erupted into flames covering his torso and face with fire. Again Naruto tried to scream but again all that came was blood. Denbe smiled at the struggling boy before once again pulling out the carving knife. "Good bye you damn demon now my wife and everyone else you killed can rest in peace." With that Denbe stabbed the knife directly into Naruto's heart. After a few moments Naruto stopped moving so Denbe picked up his 'tools' and left leaving Naruto hanging from the wall covered in blood and still slowly burning.

 **(Torture scene over)**

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Kakashi was horrified. Actually that was an understatement, what he was staring at was enough to make him want run away screaming and seeing the nature of his profession that's saying something. It had been reported that Naruto hadn't been seen for 3 days and no one at the academy reported having heard from him at all, he also hadn't visited Ichiraku's so the Hokage sent him to search for the boy. When his dogs said that they smelled blood Kakashi was worried that he had been caught and beaten again, he had never anticipated that any human being could do such a thing to 7 year old boy, giant demonic fox or no.

When he found Naruto he was covered in burns and though most of the cuts had stopped bleeding Kakashi could see where he was cut from the white scars that littered his body. As soon as Kakashi had found the boy he immediately freed him from the wall picked him up and began minimizing the bleeding with his clothing then took off as fast as he could towards ANBU headquarters. While he would have taken the boy to the hospital he didn't trust a single doctor there not to attempt to kill the 'demon' is his weakened state.

Instead he would have to pray that the ANBU medics would be enough to save the boy.

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Kakashi arrived and sprinted inside the two ANBU who were hanging out by the door eyes widened as they saw the bloody heap in Kakashi's arms. "What the hell happened sempai!" One exclaimed recognizing the person as Naruto. Kakashi turned and said "Get Taka here now and one of you go tell Hokage-sama" When neither one moved Kakashi yelled "NOW!"

Immediately they sprinted off to do as Kakashi said. Kakashi laid Naruto down on top of a couch in the corner of the room and began trying to bandage up the cuts that hadn't stopped bleeding yet. Within a minute Taka, a tall woman, wearing the traditional ANBU garb, her jet black hair held back in a short ponytail, appeared staring at Naruto in shock and horror before immediately jumping into medic-nin mode, healing what she could and trying to minimize the damage of what she couldn't.

By this point many of the ANBU had begun to surround the couch worried for the boy that they had each watched over at least once over their tenure as ANBU.

They felt the Hokage before they saw him. The amount of killing intent he was leaking was enough to kill most chuunin out of fear alone. Even some of the ANBU began to have a bit of trouble breathing.

He walked in with a look of pure rage on his face which only increased when he saw the state of the boy he saw as his surrogate grandson. By that point Taka and a few other ANBU who had begun to help her had finished treating him to the best of their abilities. "How bad is it?" Sarutobi asked as he began to control his anger.

"He had all of his toes cut off but they seem to have grown back fully which I assume is a side effect of his tenant which also stopped most of the bleeding though seemingly wasn't able to heal the scars. His vocal chords are scarred from being cut but were also mostly repaired he should be able to talk after a while of healing. He is alive and breathing though we had to drain the blood from his lungs and reset the broken bones in his ribs as well as reattach most of the nerves and tendons in his hands luckily we were able to restore their functionality. The worst injury was a stab wound to the heart but that was also healed though he should probably shouldnt have too much excitement for a few days for fear of further damage to his slowly healing heart. He will live and though the burns were numerous we were able to save most of his skin and keep the nerves intact although the burn on the right side of his face has killed most of the nerves there. Quite frankly he is incredibly lucky to be alive as his heart had stopped and by all accounts he should be dead. Although I _do_ fear for his mental state physically he should be fine after a few months." Taka stated though everyone could hear the barely restrained anger behind her voice.

Sarutobi clenched his teeth but nodded. "Call Inoichi here immediately perhaps we can find out who has done this" He ordered pointing to an ANBU in a monkey mask. He bowed before disappearing in a shunshin.

Within moments Inoichi was there bowing to the Hokage before turning to the boy almost losing his breakfast from the sight of the mangled boy. "Enter his mind and try to find who did this." Sarutobi ordered.

Inoichi nodded and put his hand into the seal for his family's jutsu but before he could do anything everyone heard a gurgling sound from the couch and saw Naruto with his eyes open clutching at his throat and thrashing wildly.

Taka launched forward and pulled Naruto's hands away from his throat "Naruto-kun you need to calm down no one here will hurt you I promise." Tears began to pour from Naruto's left eye as he stopped struggling and gripped Taka as tight as he could. (1)

"You can't speak for now Naruto-kun you might hurt yourself more." Naruto didn't stop crying but the gurgling sound did stop.

"Inoichi-san please return home we'll do this another time for now Naruto needs his rest, I assume I don't need to tell you to keep this whole situation a secret especially from your daughter."

"Hai Hokage-sama is there is anything else I can do please tell me immediately. I will also listen around town and see if I can find anything about whatever monster did this." Inoichi said bowing before taking his leave.

Sarutobi turned to Taka who was stroking Naruto's hair trying to calm the hysterical boy. "Taka could you please take Naruto to your cot and let him stay there for a while? If he calms down tell one of the others to get me immediately but whatever you do, do not leave him alone I'm worried that in his distressed mental state he may harm himself."

"Of course Hokage-sama" Taka picked up Naruto still stroking his hair and walked up the stairs.

"You are all dismissed except for you Inu I want you to come with me it seems that it's time we have a council meeting." Without another word the ANBU dispersed leaving just Kakashi and the old Hokage.

"Let's go Inu we should get this over with as soon as possible" With that Kakashi and the old Hokage disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

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 **AN: This is the first chapter I've ever written for this site so I hope you all enjoy. Any and all feedback is welcome as well as any questions you may have also tell me if I make any mistakes. Sending me a PM is probably a better way to get a response to your question then reviewing but do as you wish. This story's pairing will be Naruto FemKyuubi and Hinata so you do have that to look forward to though I do ask that you be patient with the romance aspect as it will take a while to develop, with my current outline it'll be Chapter 17 when the romance first story originally started as an idea for a story with Kyuubi as the main character which I may still write later on but for now I like this idea a bit better.**

 **Naruto cries from only his left eye as most of the right side of his face is burned. For those that didn't know third-degree burns kill most of the nerves under the skin making the afflicted area numb.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and more will be coming soon**

 **-Requiem of Darkness**


	2. Chapter 2: Aftermath

**Scattered Remains**

 **Chapter 2: Aftermath**

It took about two hours for the entirety of the council to gather. Sarutobi stood at the head of the long table staring out at all the clan heads who occupied the table and the civilian council that occupied the back of the room. Next to Sarutobi stood Kakashi who had removed his mask and was running the story through his head to ensure that he didn't leave out any details.

"For those of you who don't understand when I call an emergency council meeting I expect everyone to be present as fast as physically possible." Sarutobi began mainly staring at the civilian council especially at Mebuki Haruno who had been the last to arrive by at least 10 minutes.

Sarutobi sighed and began "We are here to discuss an attack upon one of our first year academy students. The results of this attack was quite frankly horrifying and I will let it be known that if we find the person responsible for this they will be sent to Ibiki and then executed after any and all information has been extracted. I would say more of the attack but I feel it better to allow Kakashi-kun to describe to you the state that the boy was found in." Sarutobi gestured for Kakashi to begin.

"Hokage-sama had ordered me to find Naruto Uzumaki who hadn't been seen for several days. I summoned one of my dogs to have them search for Naruto's scent. He found them but said that the scent of blood almost overpowered Naruto's natural scent" This cause Tsume to gasp as she knew that the boy had particularly strong scent and there would have to be an absurd amount of blood to mask it. Kakashi continued "I immediately grew worried and moved as fast I could towards his scent and what I saw was easily the most terrifying sight I have ever seen. Naruto was pinned to a wall by his hands which had to large spikes going through them and piercing the wall. He was covered by cuts most of which had already scarred but the ones that hadn't were still bleeding so I used pieces of my clothing to minimize the bleeding where I could. He was also covered in burns including one that covered almost the entire right side of his face."

"His throat had been punctured and from what I was told his vocal chords had been cut. I can only assume that this was done to stop him from screaming. He also had a scar over his heart where he was stabbed, and all his toes had scars around where they connected to his feet from where they were supposedly cut off. I assume that the injuries were far worse but most of them were healed by his tenant. Either way I freed him from the wall and hurried as fast as I could to ANBU headquarters where I then called Hokage-sama and had one of our medic-nin heal him. I would have taken him to a hospital but frankly I didn't trust any of the doctors to properly care for him." He was going to continue but was stopped by Sarutobi who continued the story though his voice held barely restrained anger.

"When I arrived the ANBU had already finished healing him to the best of their abilities. The good news is he will live unfortunately it will be a miracle if he is ever able to function as a normal person again after the mental trauma. When he awoke he immediately started thrashing around and his eyes were filled with fear. One of the medics who healed him was able to stop his thrashing though once he did he started crying and hung onto her like his life depended on it."

"In the coming weeks I will be having Inoichi look into his mind to see if we can figure out who did this as well as checking on his mental state. He is currently being kept in a undisclosed location to ensure his safety, is there any questions?" By the time Sarutobi finished even Hiashi was enraged. The civilian council were cowering in their seats from the killing intent that the clan heads were leaking.

Tsume was the first to speak "I say that we conduct a village-wide investigation to find the bastard who did this. My clan and I are more than willing to assist in anyway we can." At this the other clan heads agreed and also offered to help in anyway that they could.

"I agree the investigation will begin the investigation the moment that this meeting is over." Sarutobi agreed happy that not everyone hated Naruto."

"Will Uzumaki-san ever be able to return to the academy?" Hiashi asked remembering that his daughter had seemed infatuated by the boy.

Sarutobi smiled sadly "Unfortunately it is unlikely that he will return to his class in the academy as between the physical and mental therapy he will be far behind the other students by the time he is ready. As to whether or not he will ever return to the academy at all is something I will leave up to his discretion." Hiashi nodded but knew that Hinata would be disappointed.

"If you ask me the demon got what he deserved." One of the civilians muttered only to suddenly find himself without a head courtesy of Kakashi's tanto. The civilians stared at the decapitated corpse of their fellow councilman and then at Kakashi who had returned to the Hokage's side and was idly cleaning the blood off his blade.

"From this point forward my laws will be followed or else their punishments will be handed out immediately." Sarutobi said smirking at the horrified expressions of the council.

"B...But you can't do this all civilians have the right to a trial." The head of the Merchant Guild said nervously still staring at Kakashi's tanto.

"Hmm… this is true in most cases however . . ." Sarutobi pulled out a scroll and handed it to Kakashi who opened and began reading "'From this point forward no citizen of Konohagakure is to directly or indirectly reveal the identity of the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi without permission of the Hokage or the Jinchuuriki, the punishment for breaking this law is immediate execution. Signed Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage'"

This made all of the civilians pale and most of the shinobi council smirk at their plight. "Now then I believe we are done here. Also I request that everything we discussed pertaining to the attack on Naruto not be spread around the village I will have the teacher of Naruto's class make an official statement to the rest of the class. I will deal with any others personally" With that Sarutobi took his leave to check on Naruto with Kakashi following close behind.

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Taka was not having a fun time. Naruto had been clutching her for over two hours and though he had stopped crying he simply refused to let go of the hawk masked woman. Occasionally one of the ANBU would come by to check on them and to get them anything they needed. But other than that she was stuck in silence with a small boy holding her in a death grip.

She sighed and lied down on her cot in a more comfortable position with Naruto laying on her chest and gripping her stomach. She stoked the blond boy's hair slowly in hopes that he would fall asleep and she could at least stand up and stretch.

A few minutes later she heard light snoring from him so she gently placed him down on the cot and stood up stretching her back and arms and walking around the room a couple of times before sitting down next to the boy.

Even with all the scars and burns marring his body he was still a cute child and it hurt her to imagine that anyone could have possibly done such a thing the thing that terrified her most was that the culprit could have possibly been someone that she had trusted.

Before she could ponder the thought anymore the door opened and Sarutobi and Kakashi walked in. The Hokage smiled at her before gesturing for her to follow him and leaving Kakashi behind to watch Naruto.

When she stepped into the hallway closing the door behind her she saw how tired the Hokage looked as if he hadn't slept in days. "You can take off your mask now Miko-chan" She nodded and removed her mask revealing her porcelain skin and gray eyes. "The clan heads have all agreed to launch a village-wide investigation for the perpetrator each clan has agreed to help in any way that they can. I just want to know if Naruto-kun has gotten any better?" Sarutobi sighed when she shook her head.

"He did stop crying though he refused to let go of me until just a few minutes ago when he fell asleep and even then I had to practically pry his fingers off of me."

Sarutobi nodded wearily. "Hopefully by the end of the week he'll be stable enough that we can get a Yamanaka to enter his mind. I am thinking about having Naruto-kun stay at ANBU HQ for a while and I want you to be his permanent guardian." Miko eyes widened at the request but nodded her head determined to help Naruto in anyway she could as she had formed an attachment to the boy after watching over him for so many years.

"Excellent I'll bring the paperwork for you to look over and sign next time I visit him. Just remember not to leave him alone until he becomes a bit more stable"

Suddenly they heard a crash from inside the room, slamming the door open, they saw Naruto had knocked over the cot and was crawling away from Kakashi as fast as he could. While Kakashi was trying to console him.

Miko ran inside the room and wrapped Naruto in a hug whispering in his ear and after a few moments he calmed down.

The sight warmed the elderly Hokage's heart but even then he feared that the boy would never be the same again.

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 **1 year later:**

It had been 1 year since the incident and the investigation had yielded no results the smell of blood had covered the culprit's scent and nothing could be yielded from Naruto's mind because he seemed to have blocked out some parts of the memory as a defense.

In the year of Naruto's stay at ANBU HQ he had begun to show signs of improvement. After about two weeks of silence Naruto was finally able to speak though his voice was extremely raspy from non-use and the scarring on his vocal chords. He also began being able to stay with other ANBU besides Miko without having a panic attack and seemed to form a close bond with several of them including Kakashi who he had taken to calling Kakashi-nii. Miko had officially adopted Naruto who was ecstatic at the idea that he would have a family though in the back of his mind he heard a voice whispering that she was doing this because of pity rather than any real desire to care for him.

Even with all his improvement Naruto was downright cold to those that he didn't know or didn't trust and even with those that he did trust he rarely smiled and didn't speak much. It took almost two weeks to convince Naruto that Inoichi wasn't going to hurt him and even then Miko had to be in the room the whole time.

At the academy Naruto's classmates were a bit confused as to why Naruto had left. All they had been told is that he wouldn't be returning for quite a while if at all. Several members of the class including Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba, and Hinata were distraught at the loss of their friend and in the case of Hinata her crush they were further worried by the fact that nobody could tell them what happened to the blonde-haired prankster. Most of the class had admitted that it was odd not having Naruto in the class having grown accustomed to the boy's antics. The only ones who were completely unaffected were Sasuke, Sakura, and Ino. The first because he just didn't care enough about the boy and was happy for the distraction to be gone, and the last two because they were too caught up in there love for 'Sasuke-kun'.

Also over the course of the year Naruto had taken to wearing an ANBU mask to cover the burns on his face. Unlike other ANBU masks this one was pitch black with a white line in the shape of a smile and no holes for eyes, instead where the holes would normally go there were two kanji inscribed 'Life' and 'Death'. The mask was a birthday gift from Sarutobi who had said that it had once belonged to Naruto's father though he refused to say who the man was even when asked. He simply replied by saying that Naruto was safer not knowing and he would be told at a later time. Though when questioned about the odd appearance of the mask Sarutobi chuckled and said that his father was an odd man. He also explained that the mask had seals on inside that allowed Naruto to see through the mask as if it weren't there.

Naruto had chosen to accept his Jiji's decision knowing that the man had never done anything to harm him and that if he said that he was better off without the knowledge for the moment then he probably was.

This was also the first time that Sarutobi had requested whether or not Naruto had wished to continue with his shinobi training. Naruto had remained silent for several minutes before saying that he still wanted to be a shinobi though when offered the opportunity to return to the academy albeit to a different class he vehemently refused.

When asked how he would be a shinobi without attending the academy Naruto replied by saying that he would receive training from Miko and Kakashi as well as anyone else that wished to help. At this Sarutobi sighed knowing that he was right and even as a Hokage he couldn't stop Miko or Kakashi form aiding the boy in his training and even if he tried they would probably do it anyways.

All he asked was that Naruto show up at the academy on the last few days before the Genin exam and take the exam with what would have been his graduating class. After almost a half hour argument Naruto begrudgingly agreed though only after Miko had told him that she thought it was a good idea.

That night Naruto wasn't able to sleep though instead of the cause being the nightmares that constantly plagued him the cause was his wondering whether or not people would accept him. He was not dumb, he knew that he couldn't stay within the ANBU HQ forever and when he did leave he would once again have to deal with the glares and hatred of the villagers the only thing that would be different was that he would have a family at his back. He only prayed that this time he would be strong enough to protect himself and everyone else, because if he broke again there would be no repairing him, of this he was certain.

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 **A/N: I know that this chapter was pretty boring but it had to be done in order to set everything up and no at this point Naruto doesn't know about Kyuubi, but that will be coming soon I promise. I was really tempted to make it this chapter but decided that Naruto's meeting with Kyuubi should be given some more attention than just being part of recap chapter. Also I was planning on making Miko and Kakashi a pairing simply because I hate that Kakashi is one of the few people that ends up alone in the show, hell less important charters got pairing. *cough* Kurenai and Asuma *cough* Anyways I was also thinking of making a pairing with Gai but unlike Kakashi, Gai is going to get an already existing character, let me know who you would like to see, I was thinking Anko since I've never seen that pairing. I would set up a poll but I don't want to limit your options, well that and I'm lazy. Anyways remember to review or PM me with any questions or suggestions or even complaints that you may have, just remember that I can't make everyone happy. Hell even a 'Good chapter' would be appreciated. Next chapter Naruto's going to return to the academy also last chapter I forgot to mention that Naruto's right eye will permanently be red like when he's channeling Kyuubi's chakra the reason is because of the sheer amount of chakra that Kyuubi was using to try and heal his wounds. Anyways thanks for reading.**

 **-RequiemofDarkness**


	3. Chapter 3: Into the Fire

**Scattered Remains**

 **Chapter 3: Into the Fire**

"WAKE UP!" Naruto sprung up from his bed falling onto the floor rubbing his head. "What the hell Kaa-san?" He complained getting up rubbing his head. "Today's the day kid" Tenzo who had been standing next to Miko said smirking at the boy when he glared at them "Go get dressed" Miko said smiling at the grumbling boy.

Naruto sighed muttering "Damn" and walked over to the small dresser that some of the ANBU had put next to his cot. He grabbed a change of clothes and his mask and walked into the bathroom.

When he came out he was wearing his mask along with a white shirt, black ANBU pants, and black boots, over his shirt he wore a gray hoodie. He walked back over to the dresser and pulled out a ninjato that he hung horizontally on his back the hilt pointing to his right. He also pulled out his weapon pouches checking them for kunai, shuriken, and ninja wire and placing that on his left hip. He also picked up his backpack that he had filled with his other clothes including one of the orange monstrosities he had once called clothes.

With that he walked over to Miko, Kakashi, Tenzo, Yugao, Hayate, along with the Hokage who were waiting by his door. He sighed "Well let's go I guess, tell everyone else that whatever is left in that dresser can be burned."

"We could have a bonfire" Kakashi joked causing Tenzo, Yugao, Miko and Hayate to chuckle as they knew that more than a few ANBU would love to watch those orange _things_ cremated. Naruto just sighed again before leaving the room shaking his head. The 6 followed Naruto out the door as they walked down the hall Naruto waved and said goodbye to many of the ANBU he passed on the way. Even if he had never developed emotional connections to him many of them either respected the boy for his skill or had a hand in his training whether as sparring partners or just giving him a tip when they walked past the training grounds seeing as the boy practically lived there for the last 5 years.

When they reached the exit Naruto stopped and stared at the doors. After so many years inside the HQ and never once having stepped out he was nervous to once again enter the hell that the village had been for him for so many years. Miko walked up to her son and hugged him from behind "You can do this" She whispered into his ear. He let out breath he didn't know he had been holding in at the calming sound of his mother's voice. He nodded and in one swift motion pushed himself out the door.

Immediately he was blinded by sunlight. After a few moments his eyes adjusted to the light, and he stared down at the village from the hill that ANBU HQ was built on. He was surprised at how peaceful the village he had almost expected a massive mob to be waiting for him with pitchforks and any other weapons they could find. But no instead it looked just like any other day in the village.

The people he considered family walked up behind him all of them smiling at him. Sarutobi walked up next to him and placed his hand at the boy's shoulder. "All of these people behind you, we will care for you no matter what you do, it is them . . ." He said gesturing at the village ". . . that you must prove yourself to, and if anyone can do it it's you. We all put our faith in you to, we trust you, we see you as part of our family, it is them who despise you, who curse the ground you walk on, you must not give into your hatred, show them, show them that you are not the demon that they claim, show them that you are someone they can trust, show them that they can see you as part of their families and one day if you still wish for it, you _will_ be Hokage and you will surpass all of your predecessors this I promise." Sarutobi finished smiling at the boy who looked up at him and nodded his head.

"Thank you Jiji, I'm not sure about being Hokage, but even if I have to die for it I'll show them that I'm not a demon, that I'm just as human as they are." Sarutobi nodded to the boy and wrapped his arms around Naruto before handing him a piece of paper.

"That's the class that you'll be attending today at noon. I agreed that you only had to take the graduation exam and show up for cell placements, but I expect you to show up" Naruto nodded again still not too happy about having to take a test that he could have passed when he was 8 but it was better than the week that Sarutobi had wanted him to attend originally.

Naruto turned to look at his family behind him as Sarutobi took his leave. Yugao, Hayate, and Tenzo said goodbye to the masked boy, Yugao hugging him and the other two just waving before all three re-donned their masks and went back inside. Naruto turned to Kakashi and said "I can't believe Jiji got you to quit ANBU and become a sensei. I pray for the team that gets stuck with your ass." Kakashi eye smiled and pulled out his book only to swiftly stash it when he saw the glare Miko was leveling at it. He wasn't going to risk his precious after she incinerated not only the book in his hand and every single one she could find the last time he read the book in front of Naruto.

"Miko's just a jounin now too, so I don't see why you're making fun of me." Kakashi pointed out.

"Yes but she isn't taking care of a bunch of snot-nosed fresh out of the academy Genin, plus she's a hard working Jounin of the village and doesn't show up three hours late to everything." Naruto countered.

"How do you know I'm not your sensei, plus you're about to be a 'snot-nosed fresh out of the academy Genin'"

"Well Jiji wouldn't put me with you because you've already trained me, and wouldn't want to risk the 'precious' Uchiha thinking that you're favoring me and we both know that I could beat every single genin from this year and last with both my arms tied behind my back."

"Eh, I bet that Gai's students could give you a run for your money." Kakashi stated only for him and Miko to stop walking when Naruto froze as they reached the village's main street and he caught sight of the villagers going about their business. He stood frozen for several minutes waiting for the first glare or insult to be sent his way. When the only look he got was from a guy in a stall selling fruit and all he just looked at him like he was odd, though that was probably because he was standing in the middle of a street frozen like a statue.

Seeing this Naruto let out a long breath before looking at Miko and Kakashi who were smirking at him as if knowing something that he didn't. Then it hit him, he looked completely different to how how he did when he was younger, his clothing was different, and he was 5'8 compared to the 3'4 he had been. Plus it's not like anyone could recognize him from his whiskers marks with his mask on.

Instead of showing any reaction to his realization and giving them the satisfaction, he just kept walking as if nothing had happened. Miko just shook her head and caught up to her son Kakashi following suit.

After a few minutes of walking they reached an apartment complex. "This our new home Naruto-kun." Miko said smiling at Naruto who stared up at the building in awe. After all he had lived inside an apartment that wasn't a suitable environment for rats much less a little boy. He nodded his head "It's nice" with that all three of them entered the building.

"Good morning Miko-san, Hatake-san, who's this" The building manager greeted staring at the masked boy in between them. "This is my son Kuroda-san" Miko said. Kuroda smiled at the masked boy even though he was slightly unnerved by the mask. "What's your name, sir?" he asked.

Naruto sighed and ran through several fake names in his head before realizing that it was inevitable. "Naruto Uzumaki" he said moving his hand closer to his ninjato in case the man tried to attack him.

It didn't seem to register with the man for a few moments before his eyes widened "B. . .But you're supposed to be dead." He turned to Miko "We don't allow de. . ." Before he could finish he found himself pinned to the wall by Kakashi a kunai at his throat. Miko smiled at him. "W. . .What are you doing, unhand me at once!" Kurado shouted eyes wide with fear.

"I believe I was saving your life, after all you wouldn't want to face the punishment for breaking the Third's law, would you?" Kakashi said his eyes curved up in a smile. Kurado's eyes widened further at how close he had come to death. Kakashi's brutal executions of any and all people he heard break the Sandaime's law were legendary among villager. The first Kyuubi festival after Naruto's 'death' was considered a major historical event in the village due to the fact that many of the villager's believed that with the demon dead the law was repealed. Oh how wrong they were. That night was dubbed 'The Night of Red Rivers' because of the massive amounts of villager blood that flooded the streets at Kakashi's and the other ANBU's blades. It is said that villager population went down almost 30% and even a couple of hundred shinobi were found dead the next day.

"No need to thank me, after all what is Konoha without it's citizens." Kakashi said in a cheerful voice still smiling. He dropped the man and began leading Miko and Naruto upstairs when Kurado let out a sigh of relief.

"What's that Kurado-san you want to give Miko and I a 20% rent deduction? If you insist. Thank you for your generosity, sir and have a wonderful day." Kakashi's voice came from the stairwell. Kurado waited a full minute and let out another sigh.

"40% you say?! I simply must refuse, please 20% is enough, that would almost be like _stealing_ and I know I would never be involved in such a thing with one of Konoha's business owners. How about you Miko?"

"Why of course not Kakashi thank you for the offer though Kurado-san." Kakashi and then Miko said before walking up to the top floor of the building where they both exploded in laughter, even Naruto was struggling not to laugh.

After they calmed down Miko pointed to the door they were standing in front of. "This is our apartment" She pulled out a set of keys and opened the door showing Naruto the spacious two room apartment.

Once again Naruto was in awe he turned to Miko and wrapped her in a hug surprising her as he had only hugged her a couple of times most of the time she would hug him and he wouldn't respond. So without hesitation she returned the hug and enjoyed the rare opportunity. He let go and stepped back "Thank you"

Miko stared at him in shock and realized that Naruto had never had a chance to experience the finer things in life with the way he would have barely enough money to eat much less purchase any luxury items.

She just nodded and smiled at him before showing him around the apartment. "Kakashi lives in the apartment right next to here if you need anything and I'm not here ask him and if he's not here go see Hokage-sama." She said pointing in the direction of Kakashi's apartment.

Naruto was about to respond when Kakashi spoke "If you want to make it to the academy you might want to hurry." He was leaning against a wall staring out the window. Naruto's eyes widened behind his mask and he quickly opened the window "See ya!" With that he leaped out the window and started running to the academy through the rooftops.

Miko stared at the window for a moment "You think he forgot he can shunshin?" Kakashi just shrugged before he too took his leave.

* * *

Naruto reached the academy with 5 minutes to spare he spent most of that time trying to calm himself down. He let out a long sigh before walking into the building and beginning to search for the room finding it on the third floor.

He opened it and walked into the class watching as the teacher's eyes widened at the sight of him. Naruto just ignored it and handed the man the paper in his hand. Iruka read it over for a few minutes before nodding and facing the class. "It seems we have a new student today. Can you introduce yourself?" Iruka asked.

Naruto sighed again and spoke "Naruto Uzumaki" at this most of the class's eyes widened as they stared at the person who claimed to be the loudmouth idiot from years before. "A pleasure to meet you Naruto. I'm Iruka you can go ahead and sit next to Hinata. Raise your hand Hinata" Iruka was surprised but it was well known that the Hokage liked the boy and he could have easily hidden him away for years.

Naruto nodded and walked over to the back of the room and took his seat next to the Hyuga heiress. Just a row in front of him sat Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji who were all staring at him as if he were a ghost.

Hinata would have been doing the same had she not been too busy blushing like mad. Naruto looked up at the class before he sighed again and put his head on the table. 20 minutes of Iruka lecturing about what it meant to be a Konoha shinobi the genin exam finally began. One by one students went through the door and came out either smiling in joy or hanging their heads in disappointment.

Sasuke Uchiha came out of the room wearing a forehead protector to the pleasure of his fangirls who all cheered at his success. Iruka came out of the room after him and announced the last student "Naruto Uzumaki" Naruto sighed and walked into the room after Iruka.

He stepped into the middle of the room and stared at Iruka and Mizuki who sat behind a desk. Iruka smiled at him "All you have to do is create 3 or more perfect bunshin, do a perfect henge, and kawarimi with something in the room. After that you must score a 80 or above in both kunai and shuriken throwing. You will throw 20 of each and depending on where you hit on the board will determine your points for that throw. The maximum you can score is 200. After that you can perform a jutsu that is not taught at the academy for extra points. You can start when you're ready." Iruka said.

Naruto didn't respond he just nodded and began. He put his fingers in a cross shape and whispered "Kage Bunshin" 4 perfect of copies of Naruto popped into existence around him. Iruka and Mizuki stared at the boy in shock. Mizuki spoke first "Sorry you have to use the basic bunshin." He said smirking at the masked boy.

Naruto sighed "No, you said I have to create 3 or more perfect bunshin. You didn't specify what kind of bunshin. If you want we can take this to the Hokage so he can just tell you the same thing." Naruto was glaring at the silver haired man from behind his mask. Mizuki was about to yell at the boy only for Iruka to silence him.

"He's right Mizuki if I wanted a basic bunshin I should have asked for one. Please continue." Iruka said gesturing for Naruto to continue.

Naruto transformed into the Hokage complete with the pipe and everything. Then he switched himself with Mizuki once again impressing Iruka as it was a lot more difficult to kawarimi with a person than an inanimate object. "Now pick up the blunted kunai and shuriken and proceed."

Naruto walked over to the baskets in the corner and pulled out each kunai one at a time and launching them at the targets in a single lazy motion, each one hitting the bullseye. He repeated the process with the shuriken once again hitting the bullseye on each one.

He turned back to Iruka and Mizuki. Iruka was staring at the boy in surprise while Mizuki was fuming at the apparent skill of the jinchuuriki. "Perfect score" Iruka said writing in the boy's overall score.

He added it up though he already knew that the boy had passed. He gestured for Naruto to walk over "Congratulations, you passed with flying colors. All that's left is to pick the color for your forehead protector." Naruto nodded to the man and picked out a red banded protector tying it around his bicep. "Thank you" He said before walking out of the room. He walked back to his seat next to Hinata. Hinata turned to him still blushing much to his confusion and said "Congratulations, Naruto-kun" she surprised herself by not stuttering even slightly. Naruto stared at her confused as to why she would congratulate him after all it's not like she or anyone else in the class really knew anything about him. At most they knew him as the idiot he had once been and not the person he was now.

"Uh, thanks, I guess" He said turning back to the front of the room as Iruka walked out and congratulated those who had passed and offering one year of remedial classes to those who had failed. Then he took out a list "It's time to announce the rookie of the year. This year's rookie of the year is Sasuke Uchiha-" He was forced to stop as the class erupted in cheers. He cleared his throat and continued after it had died down " who scored a near perfect score in practical applications and also a 95% on the written examination." Once again more cheers. "Second place is Naruto Uzumaki, who scored a perfect score in practical applications and did not take the written examinations." This lead to surprised looks being shot in Naruto's direction. However Sasuke glared at the masked boy knowing that the only reason he was the rookie of the year was because Naruto had not taken the written exams.

One pink haired banshee screeched out "Naruto-baka _must_ have cheated there's no way he's stronger than Sasuke-kun! I say that he take the test again." followed by noises of agreement from the rest of Sasuke's fan club.

"I can assure you that Naruto did not cheat after all he was being watched by two chuunin-" before he could finish Naruto had walked to the front of the class and with a quick shout of "Kage Bunshin" The room was filled with copies of Naruto which then dispelled themselves slowly. He quickly henged into Sasuke and glared at the fangirls. Then without a word switched places with Sakura and launched kunai at her pinning her to the wall before Iruka could even move to stop him.

"NARUTO!" Iruka shouted picking up the boy and holding him against the wall while Mizuki freed Sakura from the wall. "Mizuki call ANBU and tell them that Naruto attempted to kill a fellow leaf shinobi" Mizuki nodded but before he could move to the door Naruto spoke in a voice that froze everyone in the room " **Put me down, before I make you put me down"** What was truly scary was that the boy said this in an entirely emotionless voice even as he was leaking enough killing intent that many of the weaker students had passed out and even Iruka was feeling a bit light-headed.

Within a few moments Kakashi, Miko, and the Hokage appeared. "Iruka drop him now" The Hokage ordered. Without hesitation Iruka dropped the boy and started backing away slowly as if scared that one wrong move and the boy would kill him. Miko ran up to him and began trying to calm him down. After a few minutes the oppressive killing intent lifted and Naruto rose to his feet. The entire class was staring at him with pure fear in their eyes.

"Now what happened Iruka?" Sarutobi asked the chuunin who was still trying to steady his breathing. "He threw kunai at a fellow shinobi and pinned her to the wall I can only assume he was trying to kill her." Iruka said. Sarutobi chuckled and said "If he wanted her dead he would have killed her with the first kunai." He then turned to Naruto.

Naruto's voice held anger and even some fear "Training kunai" he stated simply pointing at one of the kunai on the floor. Kakashi picked it up and nodded showing it to Sarutobi and Iruka. Iruka let out a sigh of relief and turned to Naruto. "I'm sorry for doing what I did but I had to make sure you didn't kill her." Iruka apologised.

"A good shinobi would have noticed the difference when I threw them." Naruto stated simply before walking past Iruka and leaving. Sarutobi turned to the class and said "You may all leave come back tomorrow for team assignments." Without a word all the students filed out of the room all still somewhat shocked from Naruto's little outburst. Mizuki had gone to get some nurses so that they could take the students who had passed out to the infirmary. After Miko apologised for Naruto's behavior she took her leave Kakashi and Sarutobi following moments later.

* * *

 **Outside the Academy:**

Naruto was just about to shunshin away when he heard his name being called. He turned to see Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, and Hinata running after him. This surprised him for multiple reasons one of which that he had never once seen a Nara run for anything less than to save their own or a comrade's life.

When they caught up he looked at them and asked "What?" They all looked at him in surprise then much to everyone's disbelief it was Hinata who spoke "What do you mean what? You disappeared for six years and all you can say is what, we thought you were _dead_. Everyone refused to tell us what happened to you even the Hokage. We were your _friends_ and you act like you don't even know us!" She ranted pushing Naruto back which each sentence and surprising him greatly as he remembered she could barely say a sentence to him without stuttering heavily.

Everyone else was similarly shocked, even though she had gained confidence since Naruto's disappearance even going as far as hitting Sakura when she continually insulted him. No one had suspected that she would be capable of speaking so harshly to her crush.

Naruto stared at them analyzing them, he sighed "My friends?" he laughed "You may have been _my_ friends but I was never _yours_. I defended Choji when people called him fat , I took the fall when Kiba did something stupid, I got my ass kicked when Hinata got bullied, I stopped Shikamaru's mom from trying to kill him by pulling pranks on her and drawing her anger to me. Yet what did any of you do for me. Hinata watched me from a distance and I'm sure you saw how I was treated yet you did nothing. Shikamaru would just watch as his mom hunted me down to beat me half to death, Kiba wouldn't step in as some members of his clan attacked me with their ninken, and Choji did nothing when I was denied service at his family's restaurants. I didn't expect you guys to stop them but I at least expected you guys to do _something_. So no we are not friends and judging from how you looked at me in there we never will be" With that he turned away from them and disappeared in a tornado of leaves.

* * *

 **A/N: I am really happy with how this chapter turned out. Though that's probably because this was where my original idea for this story started. Originally this story was going to start at graduation and everything else was to be handled through flashbacks but I think that the way I did it here is a bit better for fleshing everything out. Anyways due to the sheer boredom that was the last chapter I'm releasing this earlier than I originally was. Also once again let me know what you guys think about GaiAnko or leave your suggestions for other pairings. With the rate I'm writing these chapters I might switch to daily updates. As I write this AN I've just posted Chapter 2 and am already a couple thousand words into Chapter 4 though I may hold back a chapter if I'm not entirely happy with the way that the chapter came out. Anyways thanks for reading and reviewing this chapter and the last and I hope that you will continue to support me as I continue with this fic.**

 **-RequiemofDarkness**


	4. Chapter 4: The Journey Begins

**Scattered Remains**

 **Chapter 4:The Journey Begins**

Naruto was _not_ happy. He was currently sitting in the academy Hinata, Chouji, Shikamaru, and Kiba sat around him all of them trying to talk to him. He figured after his rant yesterday that they would understand that they pissed him off and he didn't really want to talk to them. But no instead they took this as a go ahead to be his friend.

He was given a reprieve when Iruka came in and began his lecture about the importance of teamwork and the four man cells that gennin operated in. After nearly ten minutes of this he finished and right before he was going to start announcing the teams Sakura interrupted.

"Iruka-sensei what happened to Mizuki-sensei?" Iruka sighed but answered anyways. "Mizuki was arrested last night for committing treason against the village." At this most of the class was surprised, Naruto however already knew as Kakashi and Miko were dispatched to find him. He also knew that one of their classmates had been tricked into taking the forbidden scroll only for Mizuki to kill him.

With that being said Iruka began reading out the teams. "... Team 7 Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno . . ." "Ha take that Ino-pig!" Sakura screeched only to look back at Iruka sheepishly when he cleared his throat "and Kiba Inuzuka. Your sensei is Kakashi Hatake." Here Naruto almost burst into laughter he could only imagine what reaction they would have to Kakashi's oddities.

"Team 8 is Hinata Hyuga, Shikamaru Nara, Naruto Uzumaki. Your sensei is Kurenai Yuhi" This of course was not the best news for Naruto. He would be forced to work with people that he practically hated. Hinata and Shikamaru were pleased as this would make their job of making up to Naruto all that much easier. Shikamaru was also surprised as he had expected to be placed on the same team as Ino and Chouji to recreate the Ino-Shika-Cho formation that had made their parents famous.

"Team 9 is still in rotation. Team 10 is Ino Yamanaka, Shino Aburame, and Chouji Akimichi. Your sensei is Asuma Sarutobi" Iruka finished before telling them that their senseis were to pick them up in the classroom.

After about half an hour the only teams remaining were 7, 8, and 10. During this time Naruto was becoming increasingly annoyed with his new teammates as they kept trying to talk to him. Or at least Hinata was Shikamaru had given up after about ten minutes of being ignored preferring to sleep. It was right before Naruto reached his breaking point that the door opened and Kurenai and Asuma walked in.

"Team 10 meet me at the closest Barbeque restaurant" Asuma said before he disappeared in a shunshin. Choji cheered and left to meet his sensei. An embarrassed Ino and apathetic Shino followed shortly after. Once Team 8 left Kurenai spoke "Team 8 meet me at training ground 15" Before she too left in a shunshin,

Naruto stood up and walked to the front of the room turning to look at Team 7. "You guys might want to go home and check back in two hours. Kakashi-nii is late to everything so whatever time he sets show up at least two hours later." With that he joined the jonin by leaving in a shunshin.

Hinata and Shikamaru walking out the door to meet their sensei. Kiba turned to his teammates "You think we should do what he says?" He asked the two. Sasuke just shrugged but made no move to get up. "I'm sure Naruto-baka was just exaggerating to get us in trouble!" Sakura shouted only to find herself on her ass as Kiba slugged her.

She put her hand on her cheek and moved to stand up only to be kicked back down by Kiba. "Naruto's my friend and I won't stand for you or anyone else insulting him, you got that pinky!" Kiba growled at the girl who nodded shakily before taking her seat. She didn't speak until Kakashi finally arrived. Two hours later.

* * *

 **At Training Ground 15:**

When Hinata and Shikamaru arrived Naruto was sitting in a tree while Kurenai was sitting in a meditative position. "Finally" Naruto muttered jumping down from the tree. Kurenai smiled at her three students.

"Ok before we do anything I want you guys to introduce yourselves" Kurenai said gesturing for Hinata to begin.

"What do we say about ourselves?" she asked. "Name, hobbies, likes, dislikes, goals for the future things like that." Kurenai answered almost immediately.

Hinata nodded and began "My name is Hinata Hyuga, I like gardening, and cinnamon buns. I dislike people who are treated differently for things that are out of there control. My hobbies are tending to my rose garden and training. My goal is to become a strong clan head for my village and unifying my clan." Hinata finished. Kurenai nodded happy and gestured for Shikamaru to begin.

"Troublesome" he muttered before saying in a louder voice "My name is Shikamaru Nara, I like shogi and clouds. I dislike people who interrupt my naps and people who are very loud" Here he thought of Sakura and Ino "My hobbies include playing shogi, sleeping, and watching clouds. My goal is to have a completely average life." Kurenai frowned a bit at how unmotivated the Nara of her team was but knew that it was a trait her entire clan shared.

Finally she pointed at Naruto who sighed before beginning "My name's Naruto Uzumaki, I like my family, ramen, and people who can see people for who they really are. I dislike simple minded idiots, people who threaten me or my family, and people who are too cowardly to stand up for people they consider friends" Here turned to Hinata and Shikamaru much to the displeasure of Kurenai who knew she would have to work on teamwork "My hobbies include training, reading, and meditating. My goal is to become as strong I can possibly be and protect myself and my family from any and all threats." He finished and Kurenai began.

"My name is Kurenai Yuhi, I like gardening and hanging out with my friends. I dislike perverts and people who judge a book by its cover. My hobbies include training, practicing my genjutsu, and gardening. My goal is to become the world's strongest genjutsu user and prove that kunoichi can be just as strong as their male counterparts." When she finished she smiled at her team pleased with them and believing that she could turn them into a good team.

"Ok so now that introductions are out of the way, I'll give you guys a choice. You can take your test today or tomorrow"

"We already took a test sensei why would we need to take another?" Shikamaru asked "That test was to see if you had any chance of becoming a genin in the first place. This test determines whether you do become a genin or you return to the academy."She explained only for Shikamaru to mutter "Troublesome"

"Today" Naruto said putting in his two cents. "Today" Hinata agreed turning to Shikamaru who sighed and said "Today"

Kurenai nodded and smiled. "Your test is simple, one of my friends is hiding somewhere around here. All you have to do is survive for the next 3 hours against her and I. Your time starts now." She began flipping through handsigns but before she could finish she found herself dodging for her life as Naruto attacked her with his ninjato. She tried to counter the boy but as soon as she saw an opening in his offense she would be forced back by Shikamaru who was using his shadow to keep her at bay.

Meanwhile Hinata was trying to hold off a certain snake-loving jonin. She was forced to dodge as Anko attacked her from almost every angle imaginable truly putting her Byakugan to the test. Shikamaru would occasionally toss a kunai at Anko while still maintaining the shadow helping Naruto.

Suddenly Naruto yelled "Hinata switch with me!" Hinata dodged a particularly vicious blow from the purple haired snake woman and hopped back as Anko moved to strike again she found herself forced back as Naruto switched targets and struck her with a vicious kick.

Kurenai who had begun to figure out how to counter the masked-boy's style was once again forced on the defensive as Hinata began her assault. She had already tried casting small genjutsu on the girl only for them to be seen through by the Byakugan.

Meanwhile Naruto was pushing Anko back with his taijutsu and kenjutsu occasionally he would create a clone to kawarimi with to avoid a kunai or snake that the kunoichi would launch at him. Naruto realising that though his taijutsu was pushing her back he hadn't received even a single opening that would allow him to finish the fight so he created a clone who launched some kunai at the snake woman creating some separation while the original flipped through hand signs.

"Futon: Vacuum Fist!" The air around his hand became distorted as he channeled wind chakra around them. He rushed forward surprising the jonin who began flipping through hand seals herself.

"Katon: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" She shouted breathing out a massive fireball at Naruto who frowned behind his mask but continued his charge. Right before the fireball hit him he ran through one-handed seals and shouted "Futon: Vacuum Blade!" He brought his right hand down in a chopping motion cutting the fireball in half and forcing Ank to dodge in order to avoid meeting the same fate. He rushed in again to engage her once again in taijutsu hoping to stall her enough that Hinata and Shikamaru could finish off Kurenai.

Hinata was trying to do just that only to be met with a kawarimi every time she thought she landed a solid hit on Kurenai. The Genjutsu Mistresses control was astounding as Hinata could barely see the woman channeling chakra for kawarimi until it was already too late. Not even Shikamaru could slow her down as he was running low on chakra and wanted to save it for when they could eventually trap either jonin so Naruto or Hinata could finish them.

Suddenly Hinata was surprised as she was forced back by a snake that flew right by her face. With Hinata temporarily distracted Kurenai moved in too knock out the Hyuga heiress only to be stopped by the sound of a timer ringing.

Kurenai immediately stopped and Naruto and Anko did the same all five shinobi grouped together in the center of the field. Kurenai smiled at her students and congratulated them on their success.

"From this moment forward you are officially genin of Konohagakure and we are officially Team 8. Meet back up here tomorrow at 9 and we'll get started with training and our missions." Kurenai said smiling at the three genin.

"Dismissed" All three genin turned and began heading out of the training ground.

As they walked Naruto was thinking back in the test. Thinking about what he could have done better, as well as reflecting on his two teammates. There was no denying that they were skilled, that was shown by how they held their own against jonin like Kurenai and Anko. They also had good battle sense both attacking in ways that would maximize their offensive and defensive capabilities. Both seemed to understand their roles on the team with Shikamaru providing long range support while Hinata and Naruto would try to take down the enemy.

They both also seemed to trust in him implicitly. Shown when they immediately followed his orders without question. All in all they were excellent comrades and he had no doubt they would be a good team. The dilemma he had stemmed from the fact that though he may respect them as shinobi he wasn't sure he could respect them as friends. After all a person could only be burned so many times before they stopped putting their hand in the fire.

He shook his head to free himself of his thoughts when he heard Hinata ask him a question. "Sorry what did you say?" He asked.

"I asked whether or not you wanted to come to dinner at my home my father wanted to meet my teammates." She repeated looking at him hopefully.

Naruto sighed something he seemed to be doing a lot recently. "I guess though I'd have to ask my guardian." He answered. Even if he wasn't sure how he felt about the people he had once called friends he was certain that it was a bad idea to deny the Hyuga clan head.

Hinata turned to look at Shikamaru who muttered "Troublesome" and nodded. Hinata smiled "We eat at six so just be there about fifteen minutes before. If you don't have formal clothing just where your shinobi clothes, father won't really care." She smiled again before waving and leaving as she heard one of the branch members who had come to pick her up.

Shikamaru sighed something that he also seemed to be doing much more than normal. "I guess I'll see you there. By the way we all really are sorry for taking your friendship for granted back then." With that he too took his leave.

Naruto just kept walking towards his new home his mind filled with thoughts of his old friends.

* * *

Naruto had asked Miko about the dinner and without hesitation she practically ordered him to attend. She also said that he should visit Ichiraku's on his way there. Naruto nodded but once again sighed having put off seeing them for quite a while. Something he knew Ayame would be pissed about. He had noticed that the glares had returned while he walked home.

It seemed Kurado couldn't keep his mouth shut afterall. Everytime he saw the man he glared at Naruto but simply refused to say anything to the masked boy. Almost as if he were scared of something unfortunate happening to him. Where he got such an idea no one would ever know.

So Naruto was walking towards Ichiraku's to speak with the people he had always considered as his first friends. He pushed the curtains aside and walked in sat down on the stool. Almost immediately the other two patrons put down their money and left the stall surprising Ayame who had been taking their orders.

She shrugged and turned to the newly arrived Naruto eyes widening when she saw him. "Naruto?" she almost whispered the question. Naruto smiled behind his mask and nodded. The teenage Ichiraku practically leaped over the counter to hug the boy.

When she pulled away she turned and yelled "Dad come out here Naruto's back!" A crash was heard from the back of the stall as Teuchi rushed out and saw the blond haired boy sitting at the counter. His face lit up and he smiled as he saw the boy.

"Welcome back Naruto" he said walking up and clapped the tall boy on the back. "Everyone thought you were dead but I held out hope. I knew that you were too stubborn to die without a good long fight." Teuchi said smiling.

Ayame sweatdropped from behind him. "Really because I seem to remember you planning a funeral when you first heard." Ayame corrected. Teuchi's eyes widened and he turned to Ayame. "That was more for your sake. I knew all along that he was alive and well!"

"I'm with nee-chan on this one." Naruto said causing Teuchi to slouch in defeat. "Everyone is against me." He said. Causing both to laugh at his plight.

Ayame turned to Naruto. "So do you want the usual. I'm sure dad would give you a few free bowls to celebrate the return of our best customer." Naruto shook his head.

"Maybe next time nee-chan I have to go to a dinner thing with my teammates." He said.

"Okay have fun and make sure to bring them by next time we'd love to meet the people stuck with you" Ayame teased.

Naruto nodded and waved goodbye before he left the stand and began heading to the Hyuga compound as he only had about 10 minutes to get there.

When he arrived he was stopped at the gate by two branch members. "What business do you have with the Hyuga clan?" They asked coldly.

"I was invited to dinner by Hinata Hyuga." The two nodded and one ran off to confirm this with Hiashi. When they returned they allowed him in but informed him he was too be accompanied by one of them. He just nodded and followed them.

They went inside a large building as they entered Naruto was amazed at the beauty and extravagance of the compound. They slid open a door revealing a large dining room with one long table in the middle he saw Hinata wearing a kimono sitting next to Shikamaru who was wearing his normal clothing. Naruto looked around while to see who he could only assume were the elders of the Hyuga clan glaring at him. They were the only Hyuga in the room besides Hinata and who he guessed was Hinata's little sister judging by her appearence as Hiashi hadn't arrived yet. He felt extremely uncomfortable in the compound feeling as though he were a lowly street rat under the scrutinizing glares of the Hyuga.

He sat down in the open space on Hinata's left. Hinata looked at him and smiled "I'm happy you could make it Naruto-kun" Naruto nodded at the heiress. He looked over at Shikamaru to see that the Nara looked bored out of his mind. Aside from Hinata's greeting no one spoke the elders continued to glare at Naruto who just looked at the table. Hinata seemed to just sit looking at her sister who was analyzing Naruto and Shikamaru as if judging how strong they were. Shikamaru looked half asleep and was barely holding his head up.

The door slid open and Hiashi walked in, immediately everyone rose to their feet Naruto following suit after a few seconds and bowed to the clan head. Hiashi waved his hand and everyone took their seats.

Seconds after Hiashi sat branch members came out carrying food and placing it on the table as well as a plate in front of each person. Hiashi looked at each person at the table spending an extra moment looking at Naruto. Something that did not go unnoticed by the masked boy.

"Today we are celebrating Hinata's graduation as well as meeting her new teammates we will treat them as we would any other guest." Hiashi spoke sending a pointed look at the elders.

"Now then let us eat" With that Hiashi picked up his chopsticks and began serving a plate from the food in front of him. Everyone else quickly began doing the same.

As they ate Hiashi would ask questions to his daughters asking about their training in the Jyuken. He then asked Hinata about her test.

"Our test was very challenging. We had to survive against our sensei and her friend Anko for three hours. At first I believed that it would be best to try and hide for the three hours which is why I was surprised when Naruto-kun immediately attacked our sensei. This caused Anko-san to come out and attempt to support sensei as Naruto-kun was pushing her back with ease. I held off Anko for a few minutes with Shikamaru-kun supporting myself and Naruto, Naruto switched opponents with me and began fighting Anko-san and held her off as well."

"This continued with me fighting Kurenai-sensei and Naruto-kun holding off Anko-san until the timer rang."

Hiashi was surprised that Hinata had held her own against and jonin even if she was probably holding back. He turned to Naruto. "Can you tell me your thoughts process when you decided to fight the two jonin rather than hiding and avoiding detection."

Naruto was surprised at having a question asked directly at him but answered anyways "They are jonin the most that hiding would have done is buy us a few minutes before we were found and would have to fight anyways. While we could have used that time to plan it also meant that they could ambush us at any time and there would be little we could do about it. Fighting them head on meant that they wouldn't have a chance to try to ambush us and I'd imagine it caught them off guard."

Every Hyuga in the room was surprised at the ability to calculate the best possible action is such a short amount of time. For the Nara it wouldn't have been that much of a surprise as they were known to have extremely high IQs but for the boy that was once considered an idiot of the highest order to do so was astounding.

"May I ask as to how you were able to fight Anko by yourself for as long as you did as well as your reason for switching with Hinata when you did." Hiashi asked now very interested in the boy who had already surpassed his expectations with his calm demeanor.

"I fought using a mainly defensive style so that I could stall while minimizing the damage to myself my hope was to either stall long enough that Hinata could finish Kurenai-sensei or the timer rang. I switched with Hinata because I had already figured out that Kurenai-sensei wasn't very skilled in much other than genjutsu and I saw that Anko was a much more well rounded shinobi like myself. So I did my best to weaken or at least tire out Kurenai-sensei so that Hinata would be able to easier disable Kurenai-sensei. I figured since she was pretty much immune to genjutsu there wasn't much sensei could do to her." Naruto rationalized.

"I'm impressed. I knew what to expect when I was told who trained you but you have surpassed my expectations. I believe that you will be an excellent teammate for Hinata and Nara-san. I trust that you will become an excellent shinobi for this village. Now I have a request to make of you Uzumaki-san" Naruto was surprised at the Hyuga's praise even Hinata had never heard her father praise someone who was not a Hyuga so highly.

His next words shocked everyone in the room "I would like to spare against you myself" the head elder jumped to his feet "Hiashi-sama why would you want to fight such trash. It is far below your station to fight fight a commoner such as him. If you wish to see his abilities have him fight Neri or even Hinata-sama!" The irate elder practically yelled.

"In case you ahead forgotten _elder_ I am capable of making my own decisions. Not only that but I will not have you insulting a teammate of my daughter as well as an honored guest. I don't believe that Neri or Hinata would provide sufficient challenge for him. Now get out of my sight I don't want to see you for the rest of the day." Hiashi said glaring at the elder and leaking KI. The elder bowed and apologized to both Hiashi and Naruto.

Hiashi turned to Naruto and apologised to Naruto for his clansman's behavior. "Your apology is accepted and I would be honored to spar against someone of your caliber Hyuga-sama"

Hiashi smiled and rose to his feet asking all of them to follow him to the training grounds.

Hinata was very worried for Naruto. Though she had never seen her father fight she knew that before he became clan head he was known as one of the strongest shinobi in the world. He was an S-rank shinobi known for his skill with the Byakugan and his special brand of Jyuken which he called Empty Palm. It was said that the first time that Hiashi had used the style against an enemy he had blown a hole through the man's torso in a single strike. That man was an A-rank nin from I was so Hinata was right to be scared for the genin about to face such a formidable style.

When they reached the training field many of the Hyuga who were training stopped to see what the clan head was doing only to be shocked when he dropped into his stance facing the 'Demon Brat' Neri payed extra attention to the fight knowing that his sensei held the blond in very high regard saying that the boy's flames of youth surpassed even his own.

"Hinata if you would start the match?" Hiashi requested. Hinata nodded and stood between the two holding her arm in the air.

"Hajime!" They charged the moment she lept out of the way.

For all his confidence Naruto was terrified. He was aware of the man's combat prowess having been told by Kakashi who had been a chuunin the first time he had seen the man fight. Naruto knew that if got hit with a single it he would lose instantly. He reached for his Ninjato only to curse as he remembered that he had left it at the house after his mother had told him it was rude to carry weapons to dinner. He also hadn't felt the need to bring his kunai pouch.

Naruto dodged to the right as Hiashi struck where he had been standing just as moment before. Even from a couple of inches off he could feel the chakra that was released by the attack.

Naruto cursed again as the man launched an onslaught of quick palm thrusts at him. He dodged as best as he could before creating a seal less Kage Bunshin and using a kawarimi with it watching as it was popped with a massive hole in its chest.

Naruto quickly ran through handsigns "Futon: Great Breakthrough!" He blew out a massive gust of wind causing Hiashi to get launched back since he didn't have enough room to dodge. Seeing this everyone jumped back much further to give the two fighters more room.

Hiashi sighed and thrust his palm forward shouting "8 Trigrams: Air Palm!" Naruto ducked and heard an explosion from behind him as the Jutsu hit a tree or something he didn't dare turn away from his opponent for even a second. Especially as Hiashi shouted "8 Trigrams: 64 Air Palms!" Naruto sprung to the side barely avoiding the first hit flipping through and seals as fast he could while dodging.

The Hyuga's watching the fight gasped at the use of such a powerful technique against a genin convinced that the clan head was trying to kill the boy.

Naruto finished still dodging for his life as he slammed his hand into ground "Futon: Gale Force Wall!" The wind picked up around Naruto and formed into a wall in front of him seemingly blocking the Air Palms as Naruto once again ran through hand seals as the wall dissipated and Naruto saw Hiashi charging again "Futon: Vacuum Fist!" charging forward as well when Hiashi was in striking distance Naruto rolled to the right and trusted his hand forward putting up a single seal with his other hand "Futon: Vacuum Palm!" Hiashi's eyes widened at the jutsu seeing that it was obviously based on the Justus he had just used.

Hiashi dodged and continued his charge surprised when Naruto charged as well. Hiashi paid very close attention to the boy's chakra so that he would know if he used another jutsu. He saw the boy channeling Chakra so he dodged out of the way and went to hist the boy through the side. Naruto smirked behind his mask as he let Hiashi hit him.

Hiashi frowned when the boy disappeared in a plume of smoke. Only to be forced to duck as a stick passed right over his head. If he hadn't had the Byakugan he would be dead as he saw that the stick was charged with Wind Chakra. His eyes widened as a single hand seal was shown "Boom" With that the clone exploded knocking Hiashi back who was quickly getting frustrated with the boy's creativity.

He sighed and prepared to finish the fight when he heard a voice shout. "Katon: Fire Dragon Projectile Jutsu!" and a second voice "Futon: Daitoppa!" and finally "Combination Jutsu: Great Swamp Dragon Jutsu!"

Hiashi turned to see the massive dragon about to crash into him. His eyes widened and he shouted "8 Trigrams: Crushing Empty Palm!" as he thrusting his palm forward at the dragon.

The spectators stared at the ensuing explosion in shock all of them were shocked that a genin was able to hold his own against a shinobi of Hiashi's caliber. Even if he was holding back to be forced to use the techniques that he did was astounding by itself.

When the cloud of dust cleared Hiashi was standing across from Naruto "Damn you're strong. That was my best attack and you beat it like it was nothing. I suppose it would be pointless to continue seeing as you could have finished the fight the moment we started if you weren't holding back." Naruto stated neither of them were breathing hard even with both liberally using their chakra and Naruto throwing around jutsu like they were nothing.

"Indeed however I have defeated ANBU who didn't pose as much of a challenge as you it truly is a testament to your skill and that of your various sensei. Your decision making was quick and decisive even when posed with an opponent that you knew was far out of your league you put yourself into position to give yourself the highest chance of success." Hiashi praised.

Naruto chuckled liking the man. He knew that if he were going all out he would have died in seconds. If he didn't lower the power of that final attack it would have gone straight through his dragon and destroyed him before he could even think about dodging.

Everyone spectating the fight surrounded the two many of the Hyuga looking at Naruto with newfound respect. His two teammates were dumbfounded at how much stronger Naruto was compared to them.

Hinata and Shikamaru walked up to him both of them congratulating Naruto for his fight even if he did lose Hinata couldn't think of a time that her father had looked so nervous.

Naruto's eyes widened when Hanabi came towards him and looked up at him with wide eyes telling him how strong he was and that she hoped that she would become as strong as him and her sister.

Both Hinata and Shikamaru were surprised when Naruto knelt down to Hanabi's height and put his hand on her head while chuckling. To them it was something the old Naruto would do not the one who had practically come back from the dead.

Hinata smiled thinking that the Naruto that she had fallen in love with was still in there. She just had to dig him out.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter was a lot of fun to write especially the spar against Hiashi. For those of you who think that Naruto's overpowered everyone who he's fought so far has been above his own skill level therfore underestimated him. You saw that the moment that Hiashi stopped messing around Naruto lost easily. Even then he still held back his full power. For everyone that reviewed, followed, and favorites thank you for sticking around so far. As fun as this chapter was to write next chapter is by far my favorite chapter thus far. For those of you who are wondering I messed with the teams simply because in order for Naruto to develop better as a character I need him to be on a team with people that he can eventually trust. Sure he already trusts Kakashi but that means that it's unlikely he'll form the same kind of bonds with Sasuke and Sakura especially if they were to act as they do in cannon. Another thing is that I will be doing the wave arc but I'll be changing some parts parts of it. After Wave I have a couple of arcs planned before the Chuunin exams. Wave will also be when Naruto finally meets Kyuubi so there's that. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I liked writing it. Also let me know if you guys want descriptions of my made up jutsu though I think I've described them pretty well in the actual story.**

 **-Requiem of Darkness**


	5. Chapter 5: Welcome to Wave

**Scattered Remains**

 **Chapter 5: Welcome to Wave**

Very few things truly annoyed Naruto, he got angry at a lot of things but very few things were capable of annoying him. Chasing a cat for two hours was easily on the top of that short list.

After two weeks of being a genin Team 8 had quickly come to realize the hell that was D-rank missions. While Naruto had been told of them by his sensei he hadn't been expecting them to be as bad as everyone claimed they were. Naruto was further angered when after he was viciously attacked by the cat he tossed it to Hinata and the cat did nothing. It sat in her arms peaceably even purring when she scratched behind its ears.

At this Naruto charged up a Vacuum Fist and was going to turn the damn thing into a bloody smear on a wall only for Hinata to turn around and shield the cat from, what he felt was divine punishment for the sins that had been committed against himself and all other genin teams. Kurenai grabbed his arm and ordered him to stop which angered him further. Even though silently she was cheering the masked genin on.

He sighed and walked ahead of the rest of his team towards the Hokage's office. When they walked into the office Hinata handed Tora over to the Daimyo's wife who began smothering the cat. She handed a scroll to Sarutobi and left. A few moments after she left an ANBU appeared and handed Sarutobi a scroll.

Sarutobi looked at Team 8 who were waiting to be dismissed. He sighed "Two days ago Team 7 was sent on a C-rank mission to escort a bridge builder to his home and protect him while he built a bridge. This morning a messenger hawk arrived requesting immediate back up. From what I have been told this mission is now classified as a B-rank. Team 8 you are to go to Wave and provide support for Team 7." Sarutobi handed Kurenai the scroll who opened it and read through it her eyes widening as she read through it.

"Hokage-sama I'm not sure my team and I could provide as much support as would be needed for as mission like this." Kurenai argued hoping for the Hokage to reconsider.

The aged Hokage sighed once again. "I agree however, all of my chuunin are currently otherwise indisposed. I can't send a team of jounin to provide support on such a low level mission and you have one of the most talented genin teams at our disposal at the moment and you are the only ones I can trust with this mission.." Sarutobi ordered. Team 8 nodded and bowed before moving to leave the office.

"Naruto stay back a bit." Sarutobi requested. Naruto nodded and returned as his team left the room.

"You are being given a secondary objective on this mission. You're job will be to assist Kakashi in assassinating the shipping magnate Gatou. Hand this scroll to Kakashi, and Naruto?" Naruto looked up from the scroll. "I am saying this as someone that cares about you, not as your Kage. No matter what make sure that you come back."

"I told you Jiji I'll do anything to protect my comrades. I won't let any of them die at least not while I draw breath." Naruto said surprising the Kage.

"Your father would be proud of you Naruto. Just try to make sure that _everyone_ makes it back that includes you." Sarutobi smiled at the boy who nodded.

"When this mission is over we'll go get some ramen." Sarutobi nodded dismissing the boy. He stared at the picture above the door. A man with blonde hair and shining blue eyes smiling at the camera. "One day he'll surpass even you. I just wish you could be here to see it." Sarutobi leaned back in his chair praying that they would be fine.

* * *

It took thirty minutes for Team 8 to get ready for the mission that laid ahead. When they arrived at the gate Kurenai turned to her team looking them over. Naruto was fiddling with his ninjato drawing it over and over again to ensure that it's sheath was in the correct position, Hinata was trying to adjust her bag so it wouldn't get in her way during a fight, even Shikamaru was checking his kunai pouch to ensure that he had everything he needed.

As she looked over them she felt a sense of pride, she was sure that they were all nervous but one couldn't tell that by looking at them they looked like experienced shinobi who were prepared for anything that came their way.

Naruto sheathed his ninjato as Hinata stopped fiddling with her bag and Shikamaru had determined that nothing had been left behind. They all looked at there sensei who was now making sure that she was ready for the mission as well.

"Ok everyone ready" the three genin nodded at the question "Good, before we leave we need to establish a chain of command. If I am otherwise indisposed Naruto is to take command. Naruto I am trusting you to take command of any situation and put your team in position to both survive and complete the mission." Naruto nodded. "Ok now let's get going we move in arrow formation. Naruto takes lead Hinata after him Shikamaru behind her and me in the back." At that they all lept onto the trees and began their journey to the hell that awaited them in Wave.

* * *

It was almost an entire day of non-stop travel for Team 8 before they finally reached the village. They landed just outside the village staring out at it searching for any sign of danger and analyzing what they were dealing with in terms of landscape. It wasn't too difficult as the actual village was very flat with very few building that were close together and no trees.

"Hinata activate your Byakugan and tell me what you see." Kurenai ordered. Hinata did as she asked.

"I see four people with larger than average chakra reserves. Probably Team 7. I see several chakra reserves which are slightly higher than the average civilian but not large enough to be even an academy student."

"Good keep your eyes activated and lead us towards Team 7" Hinata nodded and they lept off towards them.

When they reached the house Kurenai knocked on the door. It was opened by a woman who looked to be about 30 years old she looked surprised to see them.

"We're here to back up the other team you hired." Kurenai said showing her leaf headband. The woman nodded and let them in.

Sasuke and Kiba were sitting on a couch one seemingly meditating and the other petting Akamaru. When they walked in Akamaru yipped as he ran up to Hinata and jumped into the Hyuga's arms who smiled and pet the small ninken.

"So you guys are our back up?" Sasuke asked looking at Naruto who nodded. "Where's Kakashi-nii?" he asked the Uchiha who pointed up the stairs "He's suffering from chakra exhaustion. Sakura's up there watching over him."

"Is he conscious?" Naruto asked. When Sasuke shrugged Naruto walked up the stairs Kurenai following after him.

Meanwhile Hinata, Shikamaru, and Kiba were talking about their time as genin. "So how's Naruto coming along?" Kiba asked.

Shikamaru just shook his head "I think he respects us comrades now but I highly doubt that he cares about us as his friends. We've invited him to do some extra training with Shikamaru and I but he always refuses with an excuse." Hinata said still somewhat downtrodden at their failures.

Kiba nodded "I'm sure he'll come around eventually. He's definitely not the same anymore that's for damn sure."

Hinata and Shikamaru both agreed with that sentiment for one he was a hell of a lot scarier now than when they were younger. Hinata still remembered the spar against her father which was still the talk of the clan seeing as it was the first time that many of the clan had seen Hiashi fight as he rarely even trained with the rest of the clan.

Upstairs Naruto and Kurenai were talking to Kakashi after kicking Sakura out of the room. "So what's the situation Kakashi?" Kurenai asked. Kakashi just sighed.

"One the bridge I fought Zabuza Momochi before I could finish the fight a Kiri hunter nin finished him and took him away. Though I'm almost certain that it was one of Zabuza's comrades and not an actual hunter nin as they didn't decapitate him on the spot"

"How long will it take for you to recover?" Naruto asked trying to think of what his mother had told him about chakra exhaustion.

"Without a medic nin about a week luckily I doubt Zabuza will be ready to go until about then anyways. What I am worried about is the fact that last I heard Zabuza was travelling with a group of chunin level missing-nin." Kakashi pointed out.

Kurenai's eyes widened. Her team was good but to fight a bunch of chuunin would be too much for even the strongest of genin. Add onto the fact that Kakashi was injured and she was the only other jonin they were pretty much screwed.

"Kakashi how long will it be until you can move on your own power." surprisingly it was Naruto who answered.

"Two days minimum." Kurenai nodded.

"Ok here's the plan we're going to take alternate with Team 7 in guarding the bridge. Naruto you are going to have one of your Kage Bunshin with them at all times if they get in trouble they pop the clone and we get out of their as fast as possible. We need to get as strong as possible as fast as possible." Kakashi and Naruto agreed to the plan.

"Sensei can you leave the room for a moment. I have to talk to Nii-san about something." Kurenai shrugged and left the room to begin planning out a training regiment for the genin.

Kakashi looked at Naruto questioningly when he handed the silver haired man a scroll. "Jiji gave us a secondary objective" Naruto said as Kakashi opened the scroll as he read his one visible eye widened in surprise.

He looked at Naruto who just shrugged. "I'll be fine. After all this a as one of the first things that you taught me." Naruto pointed out. Kakashi frowned at the memory.

* * *

 _Flashback_

It was about four months into Naruto's training. Kakashi walked in with a dog in his hand and threw it on the floor in front of seven-year old Naruto. He stepped on the dog's tail to stop it from running and causing the dog to yelp. Kakashi looked at Naruto who was staring at the dog in surprise. He had never seen his nii-san act so coldly before. Kakashi tossed a kunai to Naruto who caught it.

Kakashi stared at the boy emotionlessly as he spoke "Kill it" Naruto's eyes widened immediately as he stared at the struggling dog who was trying to escape from under Kakashi's foot.

Kakashi glared harder at the masked seven-year old who was staring at the kunai in his hands then back at the dog. "Kill it" He repeated. After a few minutes of Naruto not responding Kakashi did something he would regret for years to come.

He had Miko walk into the training ground where he pulled her to the ground next to the dog placing his foot on her her neck.

Naruto watched as his mother tried her best to escape. Kakashi glared at the boy "Either you kill that dog or she dies." Kakashi threatened digging his foot into Miko's throat who started clawing at the foot on her neck trying to get some air. Naruto's eyes widened as his mother started to gasping for breath.

He picked up the kunai and stared into the whimpering dogs eyes as he stabbed the kunai into it watching as life slowly faded and it's eyes turned glassy.

Naruto looked up to see his mother breathing air greedily he looked at Kakashi who stared at him with sad eyes. "One day you'll have to make a decision. You can kill one person to save hundreds or kill one person and save those you care about. This is the life of a shinobi we are hired killers nothing more nothing less. This life is hell I have killed hundreds maybe thousands but for everyone I've killed I've saved hundreds more. Mercy is a luxury shinobi don't have you spare one enemy and the next day you'll be staring into the eyes of your comrades as they slowly die. Remember these words Naruto, heaven is for people, Shinobi are not people, we are killers and thieves but we are not people." With that Kakashi turned and left.

 _Flashback end_

* * *

It had taken whole months of convincing before Naruto spoke with Kakashi again. It was by far the most difficult thing that he had taught Naruto and was something he regretted since. It had finally come the day that Kakashi had feared since that lesson.

Naruto was going to have to put his teachings to the test and sacrifice one to save hundreds. After this Naruto would no longer be truly human from this moment Naruto would be a Shinobi.

"I don't blame you for it Kakashi-nii. You did it for my own good. We both knew that this would happen, that I would be forced to kill it was better this way. Unlike the others I knew what it meant to be a shinobi and now it's time I become one." Naruto said and having said that left Kakashi alone with his thoughts.

* * *

 **AN: So this chapter was a lot shorter than the others and I know that I said that this was one of my favorite to write but that was before I decided to cut this one short in favor of making one small chapter and another average size chapter rather than one massive chapter. Also I would prefer to make Wave multiple chapters rather than cramming it all together in one chapter.**

 **Anyways so I didn't think that Kakashi's teaching Naruto to kill at such a young age was cruel because I feel like this should be a thing that would be taught at the academy to separate the people who wouldn't cut it as ninja from those who would. Sakura, Ino, and Choji are all people that I feel wouldn't make the cut when it comes down to kill or be killed, hell canon Naruto might not even make it. I didn't actually put it into the chapters because I would basically have to cut out Choji, Ino, and Sakura as once again they wouldn't make it, plus I have other plans in terms of character development for them. Sakura wont be annoying for too much longer neither will Sasuke be as much of an asshole. (Unfortunately Team 10 won't get much in the way of character development for a while.)**

 **Naruto'll be meeting Kyuubi real soon too (Should I just call her Kyuubi or do you guys want her to have an actual name?) Also Haku** _ **will**_ **be a girl for this story and Zabuza's going to have some buddies to back him. If there's any mistakes I made regarding continuity, spelling, grammar, or just something you didn't like just let me know. Also let me know how you feel about Zabuza and whether he should have died in canon or not. It won't affect the story at all 'cause I've already made that decision but I'm curious.**

 **Finally, updates are no longer going to be daily as I have some stuff to take care of in the coming weeks. Hope you enjoyed and will continue to read.**

 **-RequiemofDarkness**


	6. Chapter 6: The Demon Awakens

**Scattered Remains**

 **Chapter 6: The Demon Awakens**

After Naruto's talk with Kakashi the rest of the week was filled with surprisingly intense training led by Kurenai and eventually Kakashi. Naruto was further surprised by the sheer improvement made by the other genin, he watched as each one grew by leaps and bounds, at one point he even wondered if they would surpass him only for him to shake his head and redouble his training. He had come to the realization that during his time as on a genin team he had begun to ease up on his training something that he found to be unacceptable. While he really didn't care about being the strongest he simply refused to fail at his self-proclaimed mission of being able to protect everyone he cared about, and if they were stronger than he was they would be protecting _him._

Currently the two teams were enjoying their meals only to be disrupted when Tsunami's son Inari came bounding into the room. "Why do you all try so hard! Gato'll just kill you all, just like he did anyone else who tried to defend this place. You're all doomed to die like all the rest."

All of the shinobi were surprised at the outburst. "Gato is a worm incapable of killing even the weakest of shinobi. All he has is money and an ass ton of thugs all of which I could kill as easy as you would squash an ant under your foot." Naruto said in a calm voice.

"What the hell do you know of our suffering! I bet you live in a nice house with your family and enjoy a nice cushy life. You don't know what kind of pain Gato has put us through, I'm sure that you've never experienced anything like the hell we have to live through every day."

This was clearly the wrong thing to say as the temperature in the room dropped several degrees and the knife that Naruto was holding was crushed under his grip. "Hell you say? You haven't seen hell; nothing even close to it, you can claim such a thing when you have been hated and beaten by damn near everyone in your _home_ , when you have been carved into, stabbed, burned alive, and left for dead for three days until _eventually_ someone came to save you. When you live six years of your life trying to survive on barely enough money to buy a single meal a day, on top of having to constantly make repairs to your home causing you to starve for days simply because some asshole decides to break down your door or shatter your windows. When you lay awake at night terrified of going to sleep because people constantly are trying to kill you."

"You know what the best part is. You have no clue as to what the _fuck_ you did to deserve such treatment, and after years of not knowing you begin to wonder if maybe you really are the demon that they claim you are. _That_ is hell." With that Naruto stopped releasing the killing intent and stormed out of the room.

* * *

Haku was searching for herbs to help Zabuza, when she came upon a clearing that seemed like it had been ravaged by a hurricane. Trees had been uprooted and were covered in slashes. The ground had been torn up giant patches of exposed dirt where there had once been grass. 'What could have done this?' She wondered as she walked into the clearing looking around in awe at the damage.

Her eyes widened when she saw a body lying on the ground next to a tree that hadn't been completely toppled. She walked over slowly seeing a masked boy wearing a forehead protector on his his bicep with the leaf insignia. She gasped when in a split second she found herself on the ground with a kunai to her neck. A moment later she was released "Sorry about that." The masked boy said rubbing the back of his head.

Haku shook herself out of her slightly dazed state and stood up brushing the dirt off herself. "No, it's my fault I really shouldn't have tried to sneak up on you"

"Naruto Uzumaki" he offered his name.

"Haku" she responded.

"So what brings you out here?" Naruto asked. Haku looked around the clearing as if searching for something.

"Well I _was_ here to pick some herbs to heal my friend but it seems that they were all destroyed." Haku frowned. "Well I guess I could help you find some herbs" Naruto offered the girl who smiled and nodded.

They were walking through the forest, occasionally Haku would pick up an herb and explain its use to Naruto. "Why do you fight Naruto-san?" Haku asked randomly which surprised Naruto who wasn't expecting the question.

Naruto thought for a moment "I guess I fight so that the people I care about won't suffer" He answered after a moment.

Haku nodded "I believe that those who fight to protect their precious people are the ones who are truly strong in this world"

"Do you have a precious person Haku?"

"Hai" Haku responded "He is the man who helped me when I needed it most."

"That's good, I'm sorry but I really should be getting back. It was nice talking to you Haku" With a wave Naruto took off in a shunshin.

Haku stared at where he once stood for a moment. 'Naruto Uzumaki. He certainly is interesting' with that thought Haku turned to head back to the base where Zabuza was lying injured.

* * *

After Naruto's afternoon with Haku he returned to Tazuna's house. When asked as to what he was doing he simply answered "Training" which everyone seemed to accept. The night went without incident and Naruto went to sleep still thinking about the girl that he had just met.

* * *

When Naruto opened his eyes the next morning he immediately thought something was wrong. He didn't know what it was but he felt like something really bad was about to happen. He ran downstairs and saw Tsunami in the grasp of two samurai holding blades to her neck while Inari yelled at them. Naruto sighed quietly and wondered why his life could never be easy.

"Sit down brat!" One of the samurai yelled pushing the boy onto the ground and preparing to slash him when his sword when he suddenly found that he couldn't hold his sword anymore because his arm had been sliced off. The samurai turned behind him to see Naruto with his ninjato drawn and the blade covered in blood.

"YOU BASTARD I'LL KILL YOU!" the samurai yelled picking up his sword with his other arm slashed at Naruto who was hit. Though much to everyone's surprise he disappeared in a puff of smoke. A moment later the one-armed samurai found himself headless. "Wajarri!" The other samurai yelled and dropped Tsunami growling while rushing at Naruto with his sword over his head only to find himself in the same situation as his friend.

Naruto knelt down next to Tsunami "Are you okay?" Tsunami nodded " Good, now where'd everyone go?"

"They said that they were going to the bridge and to tell you to head over there when you woke up." Naruto helped Tsunami to her feet and without hesitation sprinted out the door ignoring Inari's calls of his name. After all he had lives to end.

* * *

"Son of a bitch" That was the response Naruto had when he reached the bridge. Mist partially obscured his view but even with it he could see the warzone that the bridge had quickly become. Kakashi was fighting Zabuza and a black haired man who carried a red katana with Kurenai while Hinata and Shikamaru were fighting a girl with long white hair who seemingly used bones for weapons. Sasuke and Kiba seemed trapped in a dome of ice and he quickly identified Sakura as the one protecting the bridge builder. He quickly that judging by the pin cushions that Kiba and Sasuke had become that they probably need his help the most.

Naruto jumped into the dome and promptly was forced to block senbon as they went flying towards Sasuke. "You guys good?" He asked blocking more senbon that the masked hunter-nin inhabiting every mirror threw at him. "Do we look good?" Sasuke muttered sarcastically as he was prone on the ground barely able to move. Naruto just shrugged as continued deflecting senbon quickly angering Haku.

'How the hell can he even track them!' she thought angrily continuing to throw senbon after senbon and seeing each one get blocked. 'Screw it' She thought leaping out of the mirror and charging Naruto at a surprisingly high speed. Naruto who wasn't expecting her to charge braced himself as she rammed herself into his chest knocking the air out of him. Before he could even think of counter attacking Haku was once again in a mirror.

'I need to break these mirrors' Naruto thought grabbing Sasuke as he, Kiba, and Akamaru were forced to dodge when ice shards crashed where they had been a moment earlier. 'We don't have enough room to dodge all of this shit forever' Naruto thought frantically dodging ice.

'This should do it'' Naruto thought handing Sasuke to Kiba he began to flip through seals even as he continued to dodge. "Futon: Gale Force Barrier!" Wind picked up around the three genin and one dog as it began to deflect anything thrown at them. Naruto continued "Katon: Grand Fireball Jutsu" He blew out a fire ball into the barrier which caught fire and began forming a flaming tornado around them.

"Your weak flames can't melt my mirrors!" Haku yelled only to be forced out of the mirrors when the tornado picked up speed and began leaking out of the dome. After a few moments the flames had destroyed the ice dome.

Naruto cancelled his jutsu and looked at the hunter-nin. Kiba was holding Sasuke up to his feet. "Kage Bunshin!" a clone of Naruto came into existence picking up Sasuke and moving him out of the way. "What was that you said about not melting your mirrors?" Naruto asked turning to Kiba asked "You think that you and Akamaru could finish her while I go help out Kakashi-nii?" He had already seen that Hinata and Shikamaru had taken out the white haired girl and both were out cold on the ground next to Sakura and much to his surprise Kurenai had been defeated and seemingly dragged away from the battle by Sakura as well.

"Leave it to us!" Kiba exclaimed arrogantly. Akamaru barking in agreement.

Haku gritted her teeth she knew that she had no hope of beating Kiba now that they had destroyed her mirrors. That and the fact that she was a long range fighter while Kiba specialized in Taijutsu. All in all it seemed that her chances of survival had suddenly plummeted to near nothing.

Naruto nodded and leapt off towards his next opponent. Kiba crouched down Akamaru at his side and a moment later they struck. Even with all her speed the sheer power of Kiba and Akamaru's attacks were more than enough to force her back. She tried her best to maintain her distance only to find that against the two of them and their near perfect synchronization any attempt she made would quickly end with her barely avoiding being torn to shreds.

Within minutes she found herself defeated at Kiba's feet. She looked up at the Inuzuka "Kill me" She pleaded. Her request surprised Kiba. "Why the hell would I do that? You've already lost and you can't do any more damage so what would be the point?" Haku shook her head "I have failed my master. I have no reason to live any longer please, I beg you, kill me" Haku bowed her head to Kiba. "I won't do it so forget about it. Why the hell would you even want to die for that bastard Zabuza."

"He saved my life. I'd do anything for him and now I failed him so I want to die." She whispered. She was surprised when her head snapped to the side as Kiba punched her.

"Even if you failed him you shouldn't want to die. If you have no reason to live besides serving Zabuza then you have to find one for yourself!" Kiba shouted at her. Her eyes widened behind her mask. She thought back to the afternoon she had spent with Naruto. He was a rather quiet person but he seemed to respect her even joking with her occasionally. She couldn't deny that it was the most fun that she had in quite a long time.

She looked across the bridge and saw Naruto fighting Zabuza and Shin. Even though he was fighting a losing battle as she knew that Shin was easily just as strong as Zabuza and that even the copy-nin would eventually fall to their combined efforts she saw that Naruto was still fighting with everything he had even as he was continually knocked aside and was covered in cuts. Her eyes widened when she saw Shin launch a fireball at Kakashi who dodged and saw that the fireball was on a direct path for Naruto. She made a decision in that moment and disappeared in a burst of speed praying that she made it in time.

* * *

Even with Kakashi at his side Zabuza and Shin were quickly proving to be quite the challenge. Naruto was beginning to feel the strain of using a ton of chakra from all the jutsu he was launching at the two. No matter what he tried the two would dodge and Kakashi would be forced back by the other man's ability to launch fire out of his sword.

"What the hell do we do?" Naruto asked as he dodged yet another sword strike by Zabuza and kicked him in the stomach forcing the former jonin back. "Not much we can do except keep fighting with everything we've got!" Kakashi shouted back ducking under a horizontal swing by Shin. Naruto sighed at his brother lack of a plan barely avoiding a slash from Zabuza who promptly slid his blade along the ground and hitting a vertical strike which made a shallow cut on Naruto's chest.

"You're pretty good kid but you can't keep this up forever!" Zabuza exclaimed continuing his onslaught on Naruto who continued to dodge or occasionally use his Ninjato to push Zabuza's blade away from him. 'Damn it he's right even with all my stamina I'm starting to tire out.' Naruto thought back flipping away from Zabuza.

Before Naruto could move he was surprised to find a giant fireball aimed directly at him. His eyes widened as their was no way for him to avoid the attack. He felt the wind get knocked out of him and saw that the masked girl had knocked him out of the way from the fireball. He hit the ground and saw her get consumed by the fire. The battle seemed to stop as both Shin and Zabuza were surprised at what had happened. "Damn you Haku, you useless tool!" Zabuza said .

Naruto recognized that name 'She saved me, but why?' Naruto climbed to his feet and stared at the charred remains of the girl in shock. Zabuza and Shin chose that moment to strike both moving to attack Naruto. Kakashi tried to stop Shin but was surprised at the girl sacrificing herself for his brother that he didn't act fast enough.

Everyone stared in shock at what happened next. The three unconscious members had awoken just moments before Haku had sacrificed herself for Naruto and stared in shock at their teammate and student.

The reason for this was that before Zabuza and Shin reached him red chakra exploded around Naruto knocking the two of them back. "What the hell!' Shin shouted in shock at the sheer amount of killing intent leaking from Naruto in that moment.

" **You two. I'm going to kill you both, and there's not a damn thing you can do to stop me"** Naruto said all this in a deadly calm voice. He walked up to Zabuza who picked up his sword and moved to strike the genin only to be surprised when the boy ducked under the blade and punched Zabuza in the jaw, breaking it and knocking him on his ass.

" **The Demon of the Mist, that's what they call you right? Well then I suppose you need to be educated on how a real demon fights."** Naruto brought his foot down on Zabuza's neck. The swordsman tried to gasp in air from the crushing pressure that Naruto was exerting on his neck. Shin seeing this struck while he was distracted only to find himself lifted by his neck by the boy. " **Are in that much of a hurry to die? Well then I suppose you can go first!"** With that Naruto clenched his fist around the black-haired man's neck crushing his windpipe and dropped him to the ground leaving him clawing at his neck and trying to draw in breath.

" **You don't get off that easily 'Demon' you get to have a little fun before you die."** Naruto lifted his foot from Zabuza's neck who inhaled desperately. Naruto picked up Zabuza and Shin's swords and threw them across the bridge so that Zabuza couldn't reach them.

" **Stand up you piece of shit!"** Naruto shouted picking up the man by his arm and forcing him to stand. " **Here's the game you get one shot, hit me with everything you've got. If you can force me to move from this spot you live, if you don't, well let's just hope you don't have to find out."**

Zabuza at the monster in front of him in surprise. He channeled all of the chakra he could into his arm and hit him as hard as he could. The boy's mask had a small crack in it but other than that the boy didn't move a centimeter..

His face twisted into a sadistic smile. " **You lose"** without another word he the ime he was finished all that was left a Zabuza was various chunks of his body that had exploded around the bridge when Naruto had shoved an explosive up Zabuza's ass and ignited it. That and a large river of blood.

Everyone on the bridge would be haunted by the images of Zabuza's death for the rest of their life and Sakura and Tazuna both threw up at the sight. Naruto turned when he heard clapping from the other end of the bridge.

"I have to thank you for taking care of Zabuza. Unfortunately it's time for you to die get him!" A short fat man yelled a huge army of thugs were behind him all preparing to rush at the monstrous blond..

Naruto chuckled darkly the red chakra around him swirling angrily. " **Come at me please. I'll make what I did to Zabuza look like a comforting hug."** This caused most of the mercenaries to piss their pants. One of them shouted running away "I'm out of here! I can make more money if I live!" This seemed to set off the rest of them who all began retreating leaving Gato behind staring at the demonic boy as he began walking towards him.

"Please spare me, I'll give you anything you want, money, women, drugs, anything, please." Gato begged.

" **I presume you're Gato?"** at the man's nod Naruto continued " **Then you're about to help me complete my secondary mission"** Gato looked at the man in front of him. "Yes, Yes, I'll do anything you want." Naruto once again adopted his sadistic smile. " **Good because my mission is to kill you"** Gato's eyes widened only to see black as Naruto lopped off his head with his ninjato.

Naruto turned to look at his teammates to see that most of them looked at him with shock in their eyes. Naruto sighed and slowly the red chakra receded. He walked over to them as Kakashi joined them.

"What the was that?" Sasuke asked. Naruto just shrugged at the question. "I have no idea." This caused several of the genin to face plant. "What do you mean you don't know!" Sasuke asked forcefully.

"I've never done that before as far as I'm aware so I have no idea as to what that power was nor where it came from." Naruto was lying through his teeth.

 _Flashback: When Zabuza and Shin moved to attack Naruto_

 _Naruto was surprised to find himself in a long corridor that was completely silent except for the sound of water dripping. Naruto followed the corridor until he came upon a large set of double doors. Shrugging he pushed them open, surprised at what he saw._

 _Standing behind a giant gate was easily the most beautiful women Naruto had ever seen. She had long red hair that went down to her butt which was very shapely. He could see that her bust was rather large and that she had bright crimson eyes that stared into his and large full lips which were twisted into a smirk. She was dressed in a long red kimono that hugged her curves well. Behind her he was surprised to see nine tails swirling behind her._

" _ **Are you done checking me out because we have quite a bit to discuss, jailer."**_

* * *

 **AN: I'll be finishing that flashback next chapter. I bet you were surprised at what I did with Haku I actually hadn't thought about what I was going to do with her until right when I began writing this chapter. Naruto has finally met Kyuubi and things will start getting really interesting from here. So to give you guys an idea of how things are gonna go next chapter is the end of wave, some other stuff will happen including Naruto confronting Sarutobi about the Kyuubi. He'll also be collecting Zabuza's bounty and keeping Shin's sword. Then after next chapter we'll be beginning one of two original arcs I'll have before the chuunin exams. Also there will be no mission to Snow mainly because I never saw the first movie and I really don't want to do it. The Kaguya was just a throw away character to give Hinata and Shikamaru something to do in this chapter so sorry if you guys wanted something with her. As for Naruto being overpowered remember that he's using** _ **Kyuubi's**_ **chakra and plus he's a lot stronger that canon Naruto who stood up to Orochimaru in his Kyuubi form so I think that this Naruto being able to take out to jonin level shinobi is believable.**

 **So as always I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, if you have any questions, suggestions or complaints feel free to express them. I'll see you guys with next chapter which should be out sometime next week.**

 **-RequiemofDarkness**


	7. AN: Temporary Hiatus

I am very sad to announce that I will be putting this story on a temporary hiatus until I can figure out what to do with the next chapter. I really don't want to do this but i'd rather let you all know what's going on with the next chapter. Unfortunately I can't seem to find a way to write the next chapter the way I want to and most of what i think of I end up not being able to do because of something I wrote in a previous chapter and when I do think of something I can do I end up scrapping it because I don't really like it and I make it my policy to only release the best of my work.

It is for this reason that when I do come back to this story I will probably put it through a minor re-write in order to get back in the swing of things once I return I will remove this AN and just continue on with the story. I thank you for your understanding and hope that you will continue to read once I come back.

-RequiemofDarkness


	8. AN: Rewrite has begun

**The rewrite has begun. You can find it on my profile as well as a poll to determine the pairing as I have change it up a bit and will be doing either Hinata or FemKyuubi rather than both. Though even if I do end up doing Hinata Kyuubi will still be female. As always any questions you have I will answer as quickly as possible.**

 **Thank you guys for your patience and I hope you guys enjoy the rewrite.**

 **-Requiem of Darkness**


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